A great deal of research is currently underway to develop treatments and cures for viral infections in humans and in animals. Notably the incidence of AIDS and ARC in humans is increasing at an alarming rate. The five year survival rate for those with AIDS is dispiriting and AIDS patients, whose immune systems have been seriously impaired by the infection, suffer from numerous opportunistic infections including Kaposi's sarcoma and Pneumocystis carninii pneumonia. No cure for AIDS is known and current treatments are largely without adequate proof of efficacy and have numerous untoward side effects. Fear of the disease has resulted in social ostracism of and discrimination against those having or suspected of having the disease.
Retroviruses are a class of ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses that replicate by using reverse transcriptase to form a strand of complementary DNA (cDNA) from which a double stranded, proviral DNA is produced. This proviral DNA is then incorporated into the chromasomal DNA of the host cell making possible viral replication by transcription of this integrated DNA and translation of viral messenger RNA into proteins; assembly of new viral RNA into a protein core and release from the cell results in the formation of infectious virus progeny.
Many of the known retroviruses are oncogenic or tumor causing. Indeed the first two human retroviruses discovered, denoted human T-cell leukemia virus I and II or HTLV-I and II, were found to cause rare leukemias in humans after infection of T-lymphocytes. The third such human virus to be discovered, HTLV-III, now referred to as HIV, was found to cause cell death after infection of T-lymphocytes and has been identified as the causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS related complex (ARC).
The envelope protein of HIV is a 160 kDa glycoprotein. The protein is cleaved by a protease to give a 120 kDa external protein, gp 120, and a transmembrane glycoprotein, gp 41. The gp 120 protein contains the amino acid sequence that recognizes the receptor on CD4-positive human T-helper cells. Recently it was reported that the polysulfated polysaccharides dextran sulfate, carrageenans of sea algae, pentosan polysulfate, and heparin are highly effective inhibitors of HIV-1 replication in vitro. M. Ito, et al., (1987) Antiviral. Res. 7, 361-367. Baba et al., Antiviral Res. 9, 335-343 (1988). O. Yoshida (1988) Biochem. Pharmacol. 37, 2887-2981. R. Ueno and S. Kuno, (1987) Lancet i, 1379. The presence of the sulfate groups on these molecules is required for the antiviral activity. The mechanism of this activity has been studied by Baba et al., (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85, 6132-6136.
Applicants have discovered that a class of sulfonated stilbenes that bear sulfonic acid groups are active against HIV. Herpes Simplex Viruses (HSV) I and II as well cytomegalovirus (CMV) have functionally related glycoprotein coatings and viral infectivity can also be diminished or eliminated by the use of the sulfonated stilbenes of this invention.